Grabouw residents face sewerage hurdle to make their mark

08 May 2014 - 11:15 By Denise Williams
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The tweet accompanying the photo reads: "#IEC material & Ballot Boxes found allegedly at the house of an #ANC party agent in KwaThema pic.twitter.com/OGWein0IRA"
The tweet accompanying the photo reads: "#IEC material & Ballot Boxes found allegedly at the house of an #ANC party agent in KwaThema pic.twitter.com/OGWein0IRA"
Image: Via Twitter (@AldrinSampear)

Voters in the Xola Naledi township in Grabouw in the Western Cape were forced to walk over sewerage laden planks to make their mark on the national and provincial ballots.

Poor service delivery in the area has sparked violent protests in the past.

In the Theewaterskloof municipality, the residents of ward 12 in Grabouw, continued to join the cue yesterday, only to reach their final destination to be met a thick stench of sewerage which wafted into and lingered into the small hall.

Presiding Officer Thelmina Zinja said the discomfort to voters had resulted from a burst drain at the neighbouring Umyezo Wama Apile school next door.

“We did report it [two days ago] and they first they managed to come out was today,” she said.

Despite this, the election process unfoled without any incidents reported by midday yesterday.

But Zinja said a large contingent of police officers had been dispatched to the area because of previous  violent service delivery protests over overcrowding at the very same school that got turned into a voting station yesterday.

Moses Madizeni, an ANC member, said voters who lived in the sqaulied conditions in an area control by the DA had again had enough.

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